INCOME I, Summery

Project name: Improving Income and Nutrition through Community Empowerment (INCOME I)

Svay Teab is located in Svay Rieng province, Santi Sena have selected this area to be project target areas and located approximately 25–30 kilometres from the provincial town of Svay Rieng. The selected communes are being considered as poorest community within this district. These selected communes are made up of 2,781 households (12, 208 population–6021 females). Report 2011, Svay Teab district faced poverty and food security, there are 448 families are classified as poorest (ID Poor1) and has 473 families are classified in ID Poor 2, and 35 % of households facing food shortage, ranked from 3-4 months and around 60% of households have been living in debt.

Agriculture Production/Productivities:

Majority of households raising animals without cage and proper caring, no vaccines, no activities/knowledge to prevent their animals from diseases; as well as they do not doing home gardens/growing vegetables in order to make their own vegetables products used for improving nutrition of family member and/or selling for family income – lacked and poor of irrigation system leading to absent of growing vegetables of farmers in the community; and having demand of vegetables from markets to support their food consumption; and facing food shortage.

Water, Sanitation & Hygiene, and Nutrition:

Community people have limited understanding on clean water, sanitation & hygiene, and nutrition due to lack of access to proper information and lack of awareness raising services, lack of knowledge of using diversified daily food, hygiene as using drinking water from ponds and wells. According to the report of commune council (2011), there are 43% of children in this target areas are considered having problem with malnutrition compared to the national report of ministry of health around 40%.

Traditional, Culture, and Social:

Gender inequity and inequality in these selected villages is still a main issue and it can be an obstacle for community development process due to lack of women participation and taking leadership role, as well as decision making, domestic violence, and sending girl to school for high education (Koki Som has 23.4% and Svay Rompear is found 25%). In addition, due to lack of job opportunity in their villages, most of men are migrated to work outside their community (cities and urban) leaving women to responsible for household chores and taking care of everything at home.

Santi Sena have designed, the project name “Improving Income and Nutrition through Community Empowerment (INCOME I)” with closely working with local authorities and relevant stakeholder and funding by Heifer International Cambodia in order to improve livelihoods and food security of 1,000 vulnerable families through swine and chicken value chain. The project has 4 objectives; (1). 1,000 project families will increase their income by 100% over the baseline and increase their food security through enhancing the swine and chicken value chain, and other agricultural activities, (2). Project families will improve their nutrition, health and sanitation, (3).project families will adopt environmentally friendly technologies for improving the community environment and (4). Women from project families will be empowered and have strong social capital through effective and efficient application of VBHCD. The duration of this project is 59 months, start from January 2012 to June 2017.

The project has designed with Value Based Holistic Community Development (VBHCD) strategy that focused on social resource and women empowerment that the project will implement through self-help groups and will build their capacity to be able to start the value based agro-vet entrepreneurs and cooperatives in order to do larger group business and generate more income for the families. Self-help groups will start saving and credit activities for expanding their business and increasing income. Men and women project beneficiaries will be internalized the 12 value Cornerstones of Heifer in order to improve their moral and values. Passing on the Gifts: Through strengthening 12 Cornerstones, project families will be accountable and responsible in passing on physical and non-physical inputs with the same quality and value to other poor project families. Passing on the Gift is continuous activity that never ends. The project has designed with agriculture sector is focused on agricultural value chain to promoting agricultural product, the project will mainly focus on fostering swine and chicken production through in-door and out-door training (Farmer Field School), and improving animal breeds (artificial insemination) and animal feed production (feed mill at community). The project will provide animals and agricultural inputs to self-help groups as start-up capital in order to form swine-chicken enterprises and home garden. The project will link Self-Help Group members (producers) to markets and agricultural cooperatives who raise chicken or swine and other produce will be facilitated to link to markets (wholesalers-retailers).
At the project, project families have increased their income by 100% and increase their food security through enhancing the swine and chicken value chain and project families have improved their nutrition, health and sanitation with three key (1).Practises consistent use of latrine, (2).Hand-washing in critical time and (3).Drinking only safe water. Project families have adopted environmentally friendly technologies for improving the community environment and the women of project families were empowered and have strong social capital through effective and efficient application of VBHCD.